Incendiary munition



INCENDIARY MUNITION Oscar B. Mahale, Bel Air, Md., assignor to theUnited States of America as represented by the Secretary of the ArmyApplication March 5, 1953, Serial No. 340,649 2 Claims. (Cl. 1'02-6)(Granted under Title 35, U. S. Code (1952), sec. 266) The inventiondescribed herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Governmentof the United States of America for governmental purposes without thepayment to me of any royalty thereon.

This invention relates to munitions and particularly to those of theincendiary type. Y

It is an object of this invention to provide a single incendiarymunition which performs the functions of two separate incendiarymunitions, and which has advantages that exceed the sum of theadvantages of the two separate munitions which it replaces.

It is another object of this invention to provide an 2 the operation ofthe munition. Positioned adjacent to disk 22 within casing 10 is cup 24,which is made of an inflammable material. Cup 24 houses a charge 26 ofincendiary material such as thermit. Each of the securing meansZllpenetrates slightly into incendiary charge cup 24 and aids inpositioning said cup, A layer 28 of easily ignitable, inflammablematerial is positioned adjacent to incendiary charge 26 within casing10. Flash hole plate 30, which may be made of either a non-inflammableor an inllammable material, has at least one opening 32, and ispositioned parallel to and contiguous with layer 28, within casing 10.Positioned adjacent to plate 30 is a charge 34 of combustible, gasgenerating material, such `as,'but not limited to, a mixture of blackpowder and `powdered magnesium, whichis designated as an L vignition-ejection charge.

Conventional, inertia type fuze 36 is positioned in threaded opening 12of casing 10, and extends into said casing adjacent to ignition-ejectioncharge 34. Fuze 36 comprises a cylindrical casing 38 having anexternally threaded head 40 that seats in opening 12, and an end wall 42which has an opening 44 therein.

.U mechanism which comprises firing pin 52 which is carried incendiarymunition which upon actuation separates into two independentincendiaries, one comprising a mass of burning jellied gasoline, and theother an incendiary bomb with the ability to seek a target.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a highly effective,incendiary munition wherein an incendiary mass is ejected out of thecasing, and both the casing and the incendiary mass are adapted to burnindependently.

It is a still further object of the invention to provide an effective,incendiary munition wherein the casing is inflammable and includes twoincendiary charges, one of which is adapted to be ignited and ejectedout of the casing, and the other of which is adapted to be ignited andburn with the casing.

It is a specific object of this invention to provide a highlydestructive, incendiary munitionwherein an inammable casing houses aconventional incendiary charge, and an incendiary mass of jelliedgasoline which is adapted to be ignited and ejected out of said casing,both the ignition and ejection of said mass, and the ignition of saidcharge being accomplished by the same means.

The above and other objects will become more apparent from the followingdetailed description considered along with the accompanying drawingswherein:

Fig. 1 is a sectional view taken in a longitudinal plane that passesthrough the center of my improved incendiary bomb.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken on line 3--3 of Fig. l.

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken on line 4 4 of Fig. 1.

Referring to Fig. l, reference numeral 10 designates the bomb casingwhich is elongated, hollow and hexagonal in cross-section. Casing 10 ismade of an inflammable material, metallic or non-metallic, manywell-known plastics being eminently well suited for the purpose. Casing10 is open at both of its ends and has a threaded opening 12 formed inone of its sides. The forward end of casing 10 is closed by a steel nosecap 14. The collar 16 of nose cap 14 is seated on reduced portion 18 ofcasing 10, and is secured thereto by threaded members 20 or otherconventional securing means. A resilient disk 22 is positioned in thenose cap 14 within collar 16, and normally acts as a seal, but acts as ashock absorber when the bomb lands. If preferred, disk 22 may be omittedwithout thereby causing any appreciable effect on by pivotally mountedtiring pin carrier 54, said carrier -being Vnormally vurged away frompercussion cap 46 by spring 56, Headed pin 58 is slidably mounted in anopening (unnurnbered) infuze head 40, but is normally forced to itsinwardmost position (shown in Fig. l) by `,36 on the rearward sidethereof. At a point near the rearwardy extremity of charge 62, theinterior of casing 10 is enlarged and thereby provides a'shoulder 64which seats hexagonal positioning'ring` 661 Hexagonal blowout plate 68,covered with an inflammable covering 70 (either a film or a coating) ispositioned adjacent to charge 62 and ring 66. An inflammable sock 72,made of fabric or the like and filled with a highly inammable jelliedgasoline 74, is positioned next to blowout plate 68 and occupiessubstantially all the remaining space in casing 10. The rearward end ofcasing 1G is closed by tail cap 76, which may have streamers or a linassembly attached or connected thereto.

The operation of the bomb is as follows: Prior to dropping, the bomb isclustered with a plurality of similar bombs. The pin 58 of each bomb isurged to its inwardmost position (shown in Fig. l) by the side of anadjacent bomb. In this position the bombs are unarmed. The cluster isdropped-from the aircraft that carries it over the target, and at apredetermined time the cluster separates into individual bombs whichydisperse into a pattern of falling bombs. When the bombs disperse, thepin 58 of each bomb is ejected out of the lopening in fuze head 40 byspring 60. Upon impact, the fuze is activated by inertia, and the firingpin carrier S4 pivots toward the percussion cap 46 against `the force ofspring 56. When the firing pin 52 contacts percussion cap 46, it firessaid percussion cap, which in turn sets off the delay element 48. Afterimpact, but during the delay period, the bomb comes to rest in agenerally horizontal position on the ground, street, building roof orother place. When the burning zone in the delay element 48 reaches theprimer `Pilitentsd Apr 2, 1957 charge 50, it sets it olf, and saidprimer charge in turn sets off the ignition-ejection charges 34 and 62.Charges 54 and 62 burn and generate gas until .the gas reaches apressure which is suicient to force the blowout plate 63 rearwardly andeject the sock 72 out of the bomb casing l0. During the period ofgenerating `gas and ejecting the sock 72, the blowout Iplate covering 70of inflammable ymaterial and the sock 72 and its incendiary filling 74are ignited. Covering 70 aids in igniting the sock 72 during thisperiod. lt will therefore be apparent that the sock 72 and itsincendiaiy filling 74 are ignited and ejected at substantially the sametime, and that they are projected as a flaming mass which will movewithin the limits of its range until it strikes an obstruction. Whenstriking an obstruction, the aming mass has the property of clinging tothe obstruction while it ignites it.

Ejection of the sock 72 out of casing 10 has the reaction yof projectingthe bomb casing it) in the direction opposite to that in which the sock72 moves. During this movement, and after `the'bomb casing 10 has cometo rest, the charge 34 burns. Some of the heat produced by burningcharge 34 is transmitted through `opening 32 in flash hole plate 30 tothe iniiarnmable layer 28, and ignites said layer. Layer 2S, in turn,ignites 'the cup 24 and the incendiary charge 26. At some point afterthe fuze sets off the chain of events which actua-.te the bomb, theinflammable casing and other inammable parts of the bomb are ignited. Itshould be particularly noted 'that the casing 19 and its associatedstructure constitute an incendiary device which operates independentlyafter the sock 72 `is ejected.

While the preferred form of bomb utilizes a sock of jellied gasoline asthe incendiary charge which is ejected `out of the bomb, other types ofincendiary charges could be employed. An alternative fuze mounting wouldbe to mount the fuze in the noze of the bomb land have it extend throughthe structure in the forward end of the bomb to a point adjacent to theignition-ejection charges. The action of the bomb is the same regardlessof whether `the fuze is -mounted in the side or nose of the bomb.

It will lbe apparent that I have provided a bomb which performs thefunctions of two incendiary bombs. It combines a tail ejection, jelliedgasoline incendiary with an additional incendiary of a more conventionalnature, with the added feature -of having both incendiaries projected inopposite directions lafter the bomb initially comes to rest. Thisfeature causes each indendiary to see a target, in that each moves`until it contacts an obstruction -or comes to rest. It should be notedthat each incendiary is capable of destroying a different type oftarget; the jellied gasoline incendiary being adapted to cling to afragile structure, and the burning bomb casing being adapted topenetrate and ignite a stronger `structure. The eiiiciency of themunition is generally increased by using 'a maximum amount ofinflammable material. In general, l have provided an incendiary bombwhich is highly efficient and effective, and which satisfies each andevery object of the invention.

Having fully described my invention in detail, it should not thereforebe limited to the precise structure shown for it is intended to embraceall minor changes that `fall within the spirit of the invention yand thescope of the appended claims.

i claim:

l. A bomb comprising a closed, elongated, inflammable casing, a fuzemounted therein, a gas generating ignition-ejection charge adjacent saidfuze, said ignition-ejection charge extending to the forward andrearward side of said fuze, an apertured plate positioned on the forwardside of said ignition-ejection charge which 4thereby forms a forwardchamber in the casing, an incendiary charge comprising a mass ofthermite positioned in said forward chamber, a slidably mounted blowoutplate positioned on the rearward side of said ignition-ejection chargewhich thereby forms a rearward chamber in the casing, and an incendiarymass comprising a sock of jellied gasoline positioned in said rearwardchamber.

2. A bomb comprising `a closed, elongated, inflammable casing, `a fuzemounted therein, an igniter charge adjacent said fuze, said iignitercharge extending to the forward and rearward side of said fuze, anapertured plate posittioned on the forward side of said igniter chargewhich thereby forros a forward chamber in the casing, |an incondi-arycharge positioned in said forward chamber, a :blowout plate positionedon the rearward side of said igniter charge which thereby `forms arearward chamber in 'the casing, an inammable covering surrounding saidblowout plate, and an incendiary mass positioned in said rearwardchamber.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,589,129 Ponder et al Mar` ll, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS 591,129 GreatBritain' June 6, i947

